Guangzhou Tobacco Control Association vice president Zhu Shunxian said, Guangzhou this year to create a national health city, and the assessment criteria in an important one is the work of tobacco control, the introduction of the "Tobacco Control Regulations" is imperative. From March last year, the city began to explore tobacco control legislation, after more than a year of preparation, the current "Tobacco Control Regulations (Draft)" has been revised three times, has been submitted to the Municipal People's Congress for approval. If the legislation can be successfully enacted and authorized law enforcement agencies to strictly enforce it, it will be possible to achieve citywide tobacco control by the end of this year.
Zhu Shunxian said that, with reference to the Guangdong Provincial Ai Wei Management Regulations, which provides for penalties of up to 100 yuan, Guangzhou's tobacco control is also likely to set penalties at a maximum of 100 yuan. That means smokers will face penalties of up to 100 yuan if they smoke in public ****ing places after the ban.
Tobacco control legislation, there are four difficulties
In yesterday's seminar, from all walks of life, various sectors of the personnel of the "Tobacco Control Regulations (Bill)" expressed their views, some people believe that if only the provisions of the book looks good, but the difficulties of law enforcement, or a piece of paper, in effect, it would be better to set up a feasible ordinance, publicity in place, the people consciously comply with. Some people believe that a single department, I'm afraid that there is no force, the need for multi-departmental collaboration. In the debate, there are several major difficulties, has not been able to get **** knowledge.
1. In the end by the health supervisor or city management to enforce the penalty?
Cheng Yuehua, a lawyer of the Municipal Lawyers Association who is responsible for drafting the Tobacco Control Regulations (Draft), said that the Municipal Health Office and the Tobacco Control Association can only serve as the leading coordinating department, and that the specific enforcement of the law still needs to be authorized after the law comes out. At present, the Health Supervisor can enforce the law in public **** places, but it does not include the supervision of anti-smoking. And although the city management department has comprehensive law enforcement authority, but also only for closed venues outside the public **** place to carry out law enforcement. So whether it's the health inspector or the city administration that enforces the law on tobacco control, or whether the two are linked, needs to be further explored.
Some people have proposed penalizing managers of public ****places if they fail to supervise. But those managers feel wronged, after all, they don't have the power to enforce the law.
2. How to control the amount of punishment?
Zhu Shunxian, vice president of the Guangzhou Tobacco Control Association, said the current Administrative Penalty Law stipulates that on-the-spot penalties should be less than 20 yuan. "Caught on the spot, of course, on the spot penalty, otherwise a ticket will be issued, who will go to pay the fee afterwards?"
Delegates have said the 20 yuan penalty is too low and the deterrent is not strong enough. "Hong Kong has a maximum fine of 5,000 yuan!" A delegate said. Lawyer Cheng Yuehua said that according to the Guangdong Province Ai Wei Management Regulations, which can impose a fine of up to 100 yuan, the Tobacco Control Regulations (Bill) can also be implemented.
3. How to define a smoker?
Lawyer Cheng Yuehua said how to define a smoker is a headache. "When he was caught, he threw the cigarette away and we had no evidence." He said, "He's not a smoker if he holds it in his hand and doesn't smoke it." He said Hong Kong's statute on the matter now says "a person carrying a burning cigarette."
4. How can minors be banned from buying cigarettes?
The current layout plan for cigarette retail outlets in Guangzhou stipulates that cigarette retail outlets are prohibited in children's entertainment venues, on primary and secondary school campuses, and within 50 meters of school gates. However, many teachers have reported that there are many stores selling cigarettes near their campuses, or selling cigarettes one by one, and no one is checking on them when primary and secondary school students go to buy them.
Some delegates said no one can buy cigarettes without an ID card to ensure that minors can't buy cigarettes, but some argued that the move violates consumer privacy. Guangzhou Municipal Tobacco Monopoly Bureau personnel said that now legal tobacco stores are not allowed to sell cigarettes to minors, usually minors to buy cigarettes, the staff will persuade them to return home. But if you can't tell if you're a minor and you sell cigarettes, you can't be held accountable.
Foreign convenience stores' cigarette licenses expired in 2008
7-11 still hasn't stopped selling cigarettes
According to the new Tobacco Monopoly License Management Measures that came into effect on March 7 this year, foreign companies will not be allowed to engage in tobacco monopoly business. This means that foreign-funded supermarkets, commercial buildings and convenience stores such as Carrefour, PARKnSHOP, Lotus and 7-11 will not be able to sell cigarettes. However, as most of these businesses have cigarette licenses that expire in 2008, they can continue to sell cigarettes during this "buffer period".
Yesterday, Guangzhou Tobacco Monopoly Bureau monopoly management office responsible person said, for foreign convenience stores may not sell cigarettes, will be strictly enforced the new provisions, such as the expiration of their monopoly licenses, the Tobacco Board will no longer give the expiration of the foreign enterprises for the continuation of the license. At present, the new convenience stores opened by foreign investors will no longer be issued tobacco monopoly licenses. And supermarkets such as ParknShop and Carrefour are also not allowed to sell cigarettes if they lease their counters to businesses with monopoly licenses, which is a disguised sale of cigarettes.
The reporter visited these convenience stores yesterday, cigarettes are placed in the most conspicuous position, and the clerk are on the "smoking ban" a question three do not know. Hakchon subway station in the 7-11 clerk also pointed to the "prohibit the sale of cigarettes to minors" sign, said to reporters: "We are licensed. How can we not sell?"
Open-air public **** place "swallowing clouds of smoke" more people, the public is worried --
Supervision is not enough to control smoking into a piece of paper?
Yesterday, the reporter visited Tianhe, Yuexiu, Haizhu and other districts of the major crowded public **** places, to understand the current situation of Guangzhou public **** places to ban smoking. In large hospitals, subways, railway stations, movie theaters, there are no smoking signs, the public smoking in these places is relatively rare, the staff will also remind smokers to pay attention to, they are also quite cooperative. However, in bus shelters and other open-air public **** places that are not clearly marked as no smoking, you can almost always see people openly gulping smoke.
The reporter saw several discarded cigarette butts on the road around the bus stop at Gangding and Tianhe River South. At the Ganting bus stop, three smokers waiting for the bus smoked without a care in the world, one casually threw the butts on the ground, while the other got on the bus with an unfinished cigarette.
Hearing the news of Guangzhou's tobacco control, many women who suffer from secondhand smoke in their companies applauded, but they are also worried about insufficient supervision, making tobacco control a dead letter. Smokers hope that tobacco control will not ban all at once, or in smoke-free areas can establish a small smoking area as a "buffer zone" to solve the addiction.
Mr. Liu, who works for a foreign company, said the company is now allowed to smoke in the pantry and not in other workplaces. "You won't let others inhale second-hand smoke, and you can have a smoke break yourself." Liu said, "It's not that I don't want to quit smoking, but my work is so stressful that I hope I can get stress relief by smoking, but I also don't want my private behavior to affect others."
Du Lin, secretary of the Party committee of the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that according to a chronic disease survey in 2004, the city's smoking population over the age of 15 had reached 20.5 percent, with 40.2 percent men and 1.5 percent women. And in 2002, the city already had 1.68 million smokers. "Such a huge population needs to be regulated, and we need a lot of manpower."
Ouyang Binghui, president of the Guangzhou Red Cross Society, also said that tobacco control is not enough to rely on legislation alone, and that it needs to be managed in a concerted multi-sectoral effort, first the easy way and then the hard way, to summarize the experience through trial and error, and then step by step to achieve the final effect of tobacco control. He proposed that public **** places can be banned first part of the area, the trial implementation of smoke-free areas and smoking areas.
Background links
"Toward a smoke-free China" project launched
Guangzhou, Jiangmen pilot public **** places to ban smoking
China's CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) announced on April 6 in Beijing, the launch of a large-scale tobacco control project aimed at reducing the harm of passive smoking. "Toward a Smoke-Free China" aims to promote the introduction and implementation of policies related to the ban on smoking in public **** places, establish a national tobacco control network, and prevent passive smoking; and strives to reduce the rate of secondhand smokers in China from the current 53% to 30% within two years.
Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, Jiangmen City, included in the first batch of pilot cities, will pilot the city's public **** places to ban smoking, reduce the number of second-hand smokers, these public **** places include restaurants, entertainment venues, schools, shopping malls, government offices, etc.. The provincial health education institute responsible person said, a monitoring survey for second-hand smokers in Guangzhou also began at the same time.